I love Jelly. I particularly love the spectacular jellies that are the signature of Bompas and Parr. An inspirational pair that I have had the joy to work with on many fun filled projects. When I first came across Bompas and Parr a few years ago I had to pinch myself. I walked into their architectual Jelly Banquet at UCL and what lay before me was my personal version of heaven. A long wobbling fluorescing stretch of illuminated pink architectural jellies. The perfect merging of food, architecture and art. Delightful.
They are a genius double act. Well spoken, incredibly knowledgeable and often exquisitly dressed. Sam at one of our first meetings arrived dressed in a smart suit with a bow tie, pink socks and wielding a giant spoon. Most importantly they have the most infectious enthusiasm, they believe anything is possible and with them it truly is…Breathable alcohol, scratch and sniff cinema, architectural punchbowls and the recent phenomenally sucessful parliamentary waffle house. They really are revolutionising our perception of food in a dizzying fashion.
Last night we went to their book and studio launch. Their studio is somewhere I want to loiter in…occult jams in one corner, levitating strawberries in another and fridges full of delicious quivering jellies.
The book is wonderful and I urge you all to buy one. It’s beautifully shot, informative and dare I say it the perfect antidote to the growing legion of ”serious” cookery books. Food is fun, this is fun and this coming weekend I’m inspired to make the rosé and rhubarb jelly. Maybe I can persuade the boys to show me how to make it levitate. A levitating rosé jelly in my garden…Pure Joy.
It’s worth mentioning their next adventure happening in July. The Complete History of Food . Go boys!
Mark Ronson’s birthday party. We got Bompas and Parr to do an architectural jelly table which ended up in a decadent jelly fight (the best parties do!)
Aphrodisiac jellies
Levitating Strawberries. What could be better than levitating food?
Some of the infamous jellies.
Laura and Phoebe get heavily involved in the breathable architecture. And inhale……..
Tags: Bompas & Parr, Jelly, Jelly Mongers, Mark Ronson
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Beautiful concrete figurines by Kathy Dalwood
I have a fascination with the colour Black. I am told it is not really a colour so I have a fascination with a non colour…just to be difficult. My Interest in Black food was first realised when a few years ago I went on a Valentines date to my favourite Italian restaurant.
I devoured an inky black pool of squid ink risotto accompanied by copious amounts of red wine. Divine. At the end of a very romantic evening I looked into the bathroom mirror to find my mouth transformed into a liquorice smile…My mouth was black, my teeth were black. Valentines night and my seductive pool of black risotto had morphed me into a black toothed Mary Queen of Scotts. We cried with laughter at the Valentines chefs revenge. I am sure my tears of laughter were black too (and we did go out for four years after that so it wasn’t really a disaster)
Since that moment I have had a black food obsession. Caviar, Black truffles, Black rice, Cuttlefish, squid ink…all delicious and all very very black. There is something dark and slightly unsettling about eating black food. Perhaps it is the association with darkness and thereby death? I love the idea of a monochromatic dinner with all of the dishes and drinks being black. So much so that when I went to a supperclub thrown by a A razor, a shiny knife and we realised or mutual interest in black food we decided to throw a dinner with precisely that. Bompas & Parr who we collaborated with researched and found that Black banquets were not a new thing and did in fact have a glorious history. Of course! One of the most remarkable was hosted by Grimod de la Reyniere in 1783.
Inspired by the feasts of the past we devised an eight course menu of all black food. We found the perfect venue in the Quintessentially charitable pop up club in the House of St Barnabas. A beautiful Georgian house in Soho complete with a garden and it’s own chapel (from which we served black vodka and jellies)
I designed the tables to have contrasting black elements in a variety of materials. Black concrete figurines, shiny liquorice towers and Black matte ostrich eggs. Black object filled with the blackest flowers nature can provide…Black Dahlias, Black Calla lillies and clusters of blackberries, blackcurrants, Black grapes (grown in my very own garden)
Let them eat black! And we did.
Our Black banquet menu
Black Pyramid Jellies by Bompass and Parr
A tower of Black Jellies in the Chapel at the House of St Barnabus
Deliciousness
We raided all the local charity stores for object…then sprayed them black.
Liquorice and Black Jack towers and Black Waterford Crystal glasses make the table setting complete.
Liquorice strands as napkin rings. Nice to play with pre dinner
Paul Glossop our very talented in house Director of Balloon artistry…Aren’t we lucky?
Dita Von Teese came to show her support… we love Dita.
The fun bit is getting to take the balloons home. Taxi?!
Tags: a razor a shiny knife, Black Food, Bompas & Parr, Dinner Setting, Dita Von Teese, edible table decorations, food as art, Food Design, House of St Barnabas, Jelly, Jelly Mongers, Kathy Dalwood, Waterford Crystal
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The most beautifully adorned table
I recently spent the most delightful weekend on a Victorian jelly-making course hosted by the incredible food historian Ivan Day at his farmhouse in the Lake District. Ivan has been a tremendous inspiration for me, I love his passion for bringing back to life the forgotten food of the past in the most enthusiastic way imaginable. I have been obsessed by Victorian jellies ever since I saw images on Ivan’s website a few years ago. I couldn’t believe how visually exciting these decadent edible masterpieces were: worlds away from the lurid Chivers jelly rabbits that populated early birthday parties growing up in Ireland.
I use jellies at every opportunity for my events. They make the most beautiful centerpieces and an interesting alternative to flowers: stunning to look at, slightly quivering and delicious. I love that the Victorians had edible table decorations, beautiful and indulgent but still incredibly practical. Guests could eat as well as admire the centre pieces on the table.
The copper moulds that are used to make the jelly are in their own right the most beautiful objects. Ivan has a staggering collection and on the jelly-making weekend we used original moulds from the 1750s including the rare Belgrave, Brunswick Star and Alexandra Cross moulds. It was an unforgettable learning process and amazing to experience first hand the equipment and methods of a bygone time.
Our jellies setting in the lake district snow
I adore this jelly and would love to have a mould made with my own monogram.
Mixing gold leaf into the Gelatine
The gold and silver leaf “turrets’
The gold and silver leaf looks incredible in the clear gelatine. Like an edible snow globe.
There is something so Madonna / Gaultieresque conical bra about this pair of jellies. They were the wobbliest I have ever seen.
This one reminds me of a jelly medal
The Jelly medal mould
One of my favourites.A wedgwood jelly obelisk. The beautiful china is encased in a layer of translucent jelly.
A brunswick star jelly
Tags: Dinner Setting, Food Design, Histori, Historic Food, Ivan Day, Jelly, Jelly Mongers
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